View source for Sport in Kazakhstan

{{Refimprove|date=July 2007}}
[[File:Alexander Koreshkov 2009-01-17 KHL game Dynamo-Barys.JPG|thumb|200px|[[Aleksandr Koreshkov (ice hockey)|Aleksandr Koreshkov]], captain of Kazakhstan's [[Kazakhstan men's national ice hockey team|national ice hockey team]]]]
[[File:Issaliev Rauan.JPG|thumb|200px|[[Rauan Isaliyev]], captain of Kazakhstan's [[Kazakhstan national bandy team|national bandy team]]]]
'''[[Kazakhstan]]''' consistently performs in Olympic competitions. It is especially successful in [[boxing]]. This has brought some attention to the [[Central Asia]]n nation, and increased world awareness of its athletes. Kazakhstan's city of [[Almaty]] submitted twice bid for the [[Winter Olympics]]: In [[2014 Winter Olympics|2014]] and again for the [[2022 Winter Olympics]]. [[Astana]] and [[Almaty]] hosted the [[2011 Asian Winter Games]].

==Athletics==
[[Dmitry Karpov]] is a distinguished decathlete, taking bronze in both the [[2004 Summer Olympics]], and the [[2003 World Championships in Athletics|2003]] and [[2007 World Athletics Championships]]. [[Olga Rypakova]] is an athlete, specialized in [[triple jump]] (women's), taking silver in the [[2011 World Championships in Athletics]] and Gold in the [[2012 Summer Olympics]].

==Bandy==
[[File:Bandy in Medeu Kazakhstan.JPG|thumb|200px|The final of the [[Bandy at the 2011 Asian Winter Games|bandy tournament at Asian Winter Games]] at [[Medeu]] between [[Kazakhstan national bandy team|Kazakhstan]] and [[Mongolia national bandy team|Mongolia]]]]
* [[Bandy]] – The [[Kazakhstan national bandy team]]<ref>[http://bandyvm2015.ru/assets/images/gruppa-a/sas_2882-800x532.jpg Team picture after the bronze medal had been captured in WCS 2015]</ref> is among the best in the world, and has many times won the bronze medal at the [[Bandy World Championship]], including the [[2012 Bandy World Championship|2012 edition]] when Kazakhstan hosted the tournament<ref>[http://bandy2012.kz/en/ Bandy World Championships 2012 Official home page]</ref> on home ice. In the [[2011 Bandy World Championship|2011 tournament]], they were an extra-time in the semi-final from reaching the final for the first time. In 2012, they were even closer when they took it to a penalty shootout. The team won the first [[Bandy at the 2011 Asian Winter Games|bandy tournament at the Asian Winter Games]]. During the Soviet time, Dynamo Alma-Ata won the [[List of Russian bandy champions|Soviet Union national championship]]s in 1977 and 1990, and the [[European Cup (bandy)|European Cup]] in 1978. Bandy is developed in 10 of the country's 17 administrative divisions (8 of the 14 regions and 2 of the 3 cities which are situated inside of but are not part of regions).<ref>[http://bandyvm2015.ru/en/news/?newsid=365 Press conference for the Head Coaches of teams Finland and Kazakhstan]</ref> [[Akzhaiyk]] from [[Oral, Kazakhstan|Oral]], however, is the only professional club.

==Basketball==
Kazakhstan's most famous basketball player was [[Alzhan Zharmukhamedov]], who played for [[PBC CSKA Moscow|CSKA Moscow]] and the [[Soviet Union's national basketball team]] in the 1960s and 1970s. Throughout his career, he won multiple titles and medals at some of the world's most prestigeous basketball competitions, including the [[Basketball at the Summer Olympics|Summer Olympics]], the [[Basketball World Cup]], the [[EuroBasket]] (the European Basketball Championship), and the [[EuroLeague]]. In 1971 he earned the title [[Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR|Master of Sports of the USSR, International Class]] and a year later he was awarded the [[Order of the Badge of Honor]].

[[Kazakhstan's national basketball team]] was established in 1992, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Since its foundation, it has been competitive at the continental level. Its greatest accomplishment was at the [[Basketball at the 2002 Asian Games – Men|2002 Asian Games]], where it defeated the [[Philippines national basketball team|Philippines]] in its last game to win the bronze medal. At the official [[Asian Basketball Championship]], now called ''FIBA Asia Cup'', the Kazakhs' best finish was 4th place in 2007.

==Boxing==
[[Kazakhstan national amateur boxing athletes|Kazakh boxers]] are generally well known in the world. In the last three Olympic Games, their performance was assessed as one of the best and they had more medals than any country in the world, except [[Cuba]] and Russia (in all three games). In 1996 and 2004, three Kazakhstani boxers ([[Vassiliy Jirov]] in 1996, [[Bakhtiyar Artayev]] in 2004 and [[Serik Sapiyev]] in 2012)) were recognized as the best boxers for their techniques with the [[Val Barker Trophy]], awarded to the best boxer of the tournament.

In [[boxing]], Kazakhstan performed well in the [[2000 Summer Olympics]] in [[Sydney]], Australia. Two boxers, [[Bekzat Sattarkhanov]] and [[Yermakhan Ibraimov]], earned [[gold medal]]s. Another two boxers, [[Bulat Zhumadilov]] and [[Mukhtarkhan Dildabekov]], earned [[silver medal]]s.

It should also be noted that [[Oleg Maskaev]], born in [[Taraz|Zhambyl]], representing [[Russia]], was the [[World Boxing Council|WBC]] Heavyweight Champion after knocking out [[Hasim Rahman]] on 12 August 2006.

The reigning [[World Boxing Association|WBA]],WBC, IBF and [[International Boxing Organisation|IBO]] [[list of middleweight boxing champions|middleweight champion]] is Kazakh boxer [[Gennady Golovkin]].

[[Natascha Ragosina]], representing Russia, but from [[Karaganda]] held seven versions of the women's super middleweight title, and two heavyweight titles during her boxing career. She holds the record as the longest-reigning WBA female super middleweight champion, and the longest-reigning WBC female super middleweight champion.

==Cross-country skiing==
[[File:Stamp of Kazakhstan 042.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Stamp depicting [[Vladimir Smirnov (skier)|Vladimir Smirnov]]]]
Skier [[Vladimir Smirnov (skier)|Vladimir Smirnov]] won seven medals in total in the [[1988 Winter Olympics|1988]], [[1994 Winter Olympics|1994]] and [[1998 Winter Olympics]], including a gold in the [[Cross-country skiing at the 1994 Winter Olympics|50 km competition]] in 1994. He also won 11 medals in total in the [[FIS Nordic World Ski Championships|World Championships]] from 1987 to 1995, including four gold medals. During the first part of his active career, he represented the [[Soviet Union]], in the later part Kazakhstan.

==Cycling==
[[File:Assan Bazayev.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Assan Bazayev]], {{Ct|AST|2007}} cycling team]]
Cycling is Kazakhstan's most successful sport. [[Alexander Vinokourov]] represented Kazakhstan in his cycling career for the {{Ct|AST|2007}} team. Vinokourov had an impressive cycling record finishing third overall in the [[2003 Tour de France]]. Vinokourov finished 5th in the [[2005 Tour de France]], while two other young Kazakhstanis, [[Andrey Kashechkin]], who later finished 3rd in the [[2006 Vuelta a España]], and [[Maxim Iglinsky]], winner of [[2012 Liege–Bastogne–Liege]] and now one of the world's best punchers, finished 19th and 37th, respectively. In 2006, Vinokourov's team became known as {{ct|ONC|2006d}}, after a drug doping scandal forced his team Liberty Seguros from the [[2006 Tour de France]]. Vinokourov helped form a new team funded by a conglomeration of Kazakhstan businesses and adopted the color of the Kazakhstani flag for its uniforms. That same year, Vinokourov and Kashechkin took first and third places in general classification at [[2006 Vuelta a España|Vuelta a España]] in Spain. Vinokourov won the gold medal in the Cycling Road Race at the 2012 London Olympic Games.

In September 2006, Vinokourov won the 61st Vuelta a España by attacking [[Alejandro Valverde]] in dramatic fashion with 23&nbsp;km to go in Stage 17. He then held on to his lead over the next four stages, including the final individual time trial to win the Vuelta. Vinokourov and Kashechkin would go on in 2007 to form a new team, backed by the same sponsors as their team from 2006, but with its own lineage. This team is also known as {{ct|AST}}.

Another famous professional cyclist, [[Andrey Kivilev]], died after a crash in the 2003 edition of the [[Paris–Nice]] race.

==Football==
{{Main|Football in Kazakhstan}}
[[Association football|Football]] is the most popular sport in Kazakhstan. The [[Football Federation of Kazakhstan]] ({{lang-kz|'''Қазақстанның Футбол Федерациясы''', ''Qazaqstannıñ fwtbol federacïyası''}}) is the sport's national governing body. The FFK organises the [[Kazakhstan national football team|men's]], [[Kazakhstan women's national football team|women's]], and [[futsal]] national teams.

==Ice hockey==
[[File:Evegeni Nabokov 08.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Evgeni Nabokov]], a Kazakhstani ice hockey player]]
The [[Kazakhstan men's national ice hockey team|Kazakh national ice hockey team]] have competed in [[ice hockey]] in the 1998 and [[2006 Winter Olympics]], as well as in the [[2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships]].

The [[Kazakhstan Hockey Championship]] is held since 1992. [[Barys Astana]] is the main domestic Kazakhstani ice hockey professional team, and having played in the Kazakhstani national league until the 2008–09 season, when they were transferred to play in the [[Kontinental Hockey League]]. Meanwhile, the [[Kazzinc-Torpedo]] and play in the [[Supreme Hockey League]] since 1996 and the [[Saryarka Karagandy]] since 2012.

Top Kazakhstani ice hockey players include [[Nik Antropov]], [[Ivan Kulshov]] and [[Evgeni Nabokov]].

==Rhythmic gymnastics==
[[Aliya Yussupova]] was placed 4th in the [[Summer Olympic Games]] in [[2004 Summer Olympics|Athens]]. She has been among the medalist winners in several previous tournaments. Currently, she is considered to be one of the top rhythmic gymnasts in the world. After the retiring of [[Aliya Yussupova]] in the end of 2009, [[Kazakhstan]] maintained its top place in the world thanks to the emerge of [[Anna Alyabyeva]] who now represents the nation at the international tournaments, grand prix, and world championship. As of 2015 [[Sabina Ashirbayeva]] started her senior career and is growing and achieving good results, she is following the footsteps of former fellow rhythmic gymnast [[Aliya Yussupova]].

==Rugby union==
{{Main|Rugby union in Kazakhstan}}
[[Rugby union]] is a popular sport in Kazakhstan. The [[Kazakhstan Rugby Union]] was founded in 1993. It develops traditions of rugby existing in Kazakhstan since 1966, when the first [[Kazakhstan national rugby union team|men's national rugby team]] of Kazakhstani Soviet Republic was formed. In 2002, the [[Kazakhstan women's national rugby union team|national women's team]] became the [[ARFU Women's Rugby Championship|Asian Champions]] for the third time. The men's team is becoming stronger and participating in major international tournaments. It is now ranked 32nd (out of 95) position in the [[IRB World Rankings]].

==Speed skating==
[[File:Alau Ice Palace 2013-11-29.JPG|260px|thumb|right|[[Alau Ice Palace]] during the [[2013–14 ISU Speed Skating World Cup]] competitions]]
The high altitude speed skating rink [[Medeu]] near [[Almaty]] is one of the foremost outdoor arenas in the world and has seen many world records in all [[speed skating]] distances before the era of indoor arenas. [[Alau Ice Palace]] in [[Astana]] was built for the [[Speed skating at the 2011 Asian Winter Games|Asian Winter Games]] in 2011.

==Weightlifting==
*[[Ilya Ilyin]] – Competing in the 105&nbsp;kg men's category, he is currently one of the best [[Olympic weightlifting|weightlifters]] of his generation. In his first international competition, the [[2005 World Weightlifting Championships]], he came first in the total (386&nbsp;kg) and [[clean and jerk]] (216&nbsp;kg) at the age of 17 in the 85&nbsp;kg men's category.<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20081202053759/http://www.iwf.net/results/results_results.php?placecod=3</ref> He is one of the few weightlifters who have won two consecutive gold medals at the Olympics, the first at the [[Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics]], and then second in the 94&nbsp;kg men's category at the [[London 2012 Summer Olympics]] in the 94&nbsp;kg men's category. He set a new world record in the 94&nbsp;kg category for clean & jerk (233&nbsp;kg) and the total (418&nbsp;kg) at London. He has been undefeated<ref>http://www.allthingsgym.com/ilya-ilyin-185kg-snatch-239kg-clean-jerk-competition-comeback-2014/</ref> in all [[World Weightlifting Championships|World]] and [[Olympic Games|Olympic]] competitions that he has entered in. Recently, in the [[2014 World Weightlifting Championships]], competing in the 105&nbsp;kg men's category, he won gold in the total (432&nbsp;kg) and in the clean and jerk with the world record (242&nbsp;kg).<ref>[http://www.iwf.net/results/results-by-events/?event=298 2014 World Weightlifting Championships]</ref>

==See also==
* [[Kazakhstan at the Olympics]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Kazakhstan topics}}
{{Sport in Europe}}
{{Sport in Asia}}
{{Sports governing bodies in Kazakhstan}}

[[Category:Sport in Kazakhstan| ]]